More than a month later, no new light shed on police shooting of Lee man

By Andrea Bulfinch

abulfinch@fosters.com

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

LEE — More than a month has passed since any new information has been released from the investigation into an officer-involved shooting that resulted in resident Steve Amazeen, 45, being shot.

Calls to Senior Assistant Attorney General Susan Morrell’s office have gone unreturned since her last communication with Foster’s in early December. At that time she also said she could not comment on how long the investigation would take to complete.

Police responded to Lee Hook Road in the early hours of Monday Dec. 3 where it had been reported that Amazeen, of 289 Lee Hook Road, was suicidal and had fired shots inside the home where his wife and son also reside. They were not injured during the incident.

Officers encountered Amazeen a short distance from the home and shots were fired after Amazeen allegedly pointed his gun toward the officers who then opened fire, striking him twice.

Amazeen was transported by McGregor Ambulance to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover with gunshot wounds where he was then listed as being in stable condition.

Lee Hook Road remained closed for most of Dec. 3 while authorities, including the State Police Major Crimes Unit, investigated the officer-involved shooting. Later that day, a news conference was held at the Lee Safety Complex by Morrell, who was tight-lipped with details. She said various aspects of the shooting would be investigated including what was behind Amazeens’ actions and whether a drug or alcohol dependency or mental health issue was present.

It was later learned by Foster’s from multiple anonymous sources that Amazeen had been shot by officers of the Durham Police Department, though Morrell would not confirm this detail. She did, however, indicate during the news conference that more than one officer had shot at Amazeen and that Durham was one of the responding departments to the scene.

Durham Deputy Police Chief Rene Kelley also could not comment as to whether shots toward Amazeen had been fired by anyone in that department as all inquiries are to go through the AG’s office.